Leonard

One of the most mind-boggling things about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is its longevity. The comics have been around since the 1980s and the cartoons that a generation of kids grew up on soon followed. The movies came later, and over the course of the past few years, the Green Machine keeps being reinvented. It’s now onto a computer-animated series.

All of those children’s shows are decent, but they fail to capture the grittier essence of the old comic. Perhaps, that’s one of the reasons I’m drawn to Red Fly Studio’s take on the franchise. TMNT Out of the Shadows tries to be more Chris Nolan rather than Tim Burton with a realistic approach to the turtles.

At an eyes-only demo, the first thing I noticed was that the heroes looked different. Donatello was tall and lanky. Raphael was the burliest while Michelangelo stood stocky and short. Meanwhile, Leo was average out of all them. That was the intention, according to lead designer Chris Frechette. The developer was a fan who grew up with the toys and the cartoons. He calls the project “a dream come true.”